The Gift Of Hairspray
by Princess Chocolatier
Summary: Tracy and the gang are determined to have a wonderful Christmas...but will disaster step in the way?
1. December 1962

_Hairspray and all related to the respective film in any way is property of New Line Cinema. All other characters © 2008 Carolyn Gates. This story is not for profit gain, solely for entertainment only._

**The Gift Of Hairspray**

**Chapter 1**

**Tracy Turnblad usually woke up to the sounds of her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and knew it was a symphony, the song of a Baltimore morning. But today would be a different symphony, a symphony she always looked forward to the other eleven months of the year. Today she woke up to the sounds of the song "Do You Hear What I Hear" playing downstairs. She immediately popped into the bathroom to attend to her beautifully, newly straightened brunette hair with blonde highlights, which she slipped a beautiful hair band into; pure white lined with holly berries. She slipped into an A-line dress, a pure passionate red lined in white, and white go-go boots, the same ones she wore when Inez Stubbs won her victory at Corny Collins' Miss Teenage Hairspray Pageant, televised all throughout Baltimore two months earlier, the same day The Corny Collins Show was officially integrated. The same day she, too, had won a victory, officially winning over the most beautiful young man to ever be on The Corny Collins Show…Link Larkin.**

**She went downstairs to the breakfast table, where her mother, Edna, was cooking her a feast she always cooked at the first day of this particular month. She usually was too excited to eat each morning, but she always looked forward to this particular bounty of Banana Walnut-Cinnamon Pancakes, sautéed Polska Kielbasa sausage, Canadian Bacon, and Kona Coffee with cream, cinnamon and nutmeg, all topped off with a "Good Morning, Tracy, dear!" from her mother, and a "Good Mornin', kiddo!" from her father, Wilbur, and kisses abounding.**

**What surprises awaited her this day? The first morning of this month brought snow (which her mother quickly reminded her to get fully prepared for, not particularly approving of her dress), every shop she passed by on her way to school lined with massive amounts of red, green, gold and silver, the record players inside singing songs of peace, beauty, goodwill toward all humankind. To Tracy, this was a symphony that blew all other symphonies she heard throughout the town of Baltimore away. It was a special symphony that spread love throughout Baltimore as the townspeople waved and said "Hello, Tracy! Good luck on the show! Dance your best today, Tracy!"**

**She tasted the snowflakes on her tongue, felt the crisp wind blow in the breeze, and slipped into the warm school bus, snuggling into her coat, dreaming of the wonderful things she and Link would do this year. Sitting in front of the fire, listening to rich, warm music, sipping hot cocoa with chocolate chips and whipped cream, snuggling and telling each other the loveliest things… eating her mother's steaming gingerbread, decorating the whole house in the loveliest colors…Link wearing a warm, snuggly green sweater (hopefully his mother wouldn't make him wear something babyish embroidered on it, though).**

**The bus passed by the midst of town, where there stood a beautiful, massive tree, decorated in silver and gold decorations of phenomenal proportions. As the bus passed, it illuminated with the most beautiful lights. Tracy and the other kids ooohhhed and ahhhed….**

**Merry Christmas, Baltimore, Tracy thought with a smile. **


	2. Suspicion Begins

Chapter 2

Tracy and her best friend, Penny Pingleton, hurried into school, the halls properly decked with garlands of pine and holly berries. "I wish there were mistletoe at my locker", said Tracy. "Link would show up and give me a passionate French kiss!" "The way you two have been kissing lately, you don't need mistletoe!" exclaimed Penny. Both girls opened their lockers, Tracy to find something odd in hers. A note in an envelope. "Link!" she automatically whispered, believing it to be a love note he occasionally sent. Perhaps maybe a Christmas greeting?

She was suddenly aware of a horrible, almost suffocating smell. The letter had been sprayed--tainted--with the choking scent of far too much Youth Dew by Estee Lauder. She turned it over to find it had been sealed with a skull and crossbones, marked on with black ballpoint pen. Bravely, she opened it to find a typed message, obviously typed so Tracy wouldn't know who the author of the note was…

"Start crying, Tracy. I'm taking him back. Merry Christmas, sweetie."

The sender of the note wanted to hide her identity, but with the choking perfume and the message obviously being about Link, she had done a lame job and had given herself away.

"Amber!" Tracy and Penny exclaimed as the bell rang, both repulsed at the thought of Amber Von Tussle, Tracy's cold-blooded, black hearted rival and onetime girlfriend of Link.

Penny did her best not to get worried as she sat down in her Honors English class. She and Tracy had so many other things to think of this holiday season. A big party at Tracy's mother's house, which had never happened before, and wouldn't have if Tracy didn't inspire her mother to refresh her looks and update her wardrobe to a fashionable '60's look two months ago, let alone inspire her to get out of the house. She would definitely look forward on the fifteenth to celebrate the coming of Christmas with good food, Christmas music, and Seaweed Stubbs, her first--and last--love.

Seaweed and Penny loved each other very deeply, and neither cared that Penny was Caucasian and Seaweed was African-American. Sadly, many small unopened minds and hearts scorned them for dating each other, let alone falling in love. Both, however, had stronger hearts and minds and threatened to call the NAACP if anyone tried to separate them. There was only one problem that particularly stood in Penny's way…her mother. To this day, she still didn't approve of Rock N' Roll music, nor anything young or modern. Nowadays, she reluctantly let Penny and Seaweed date, yet she had forbidden him to step inside her house or be anywhere near her. How was she and he to get along if they couldn't even get to know each other? Somehow, Penny was determined to find a way to get her mom to like Seaweed. It was, after all, Christmas…and a whole new era.

Meanwhile, Link was sitting, utterly bored, in his Algebra II class. He didn't care about any lessons anymore, especially not this Christmas, which to him, would be the best ever, now that he found the love of his life, Tracy. He was so relieved to be rid of Amber, who had deceived him once into thinking she was actually beautiful on the outside. When he met Tracy in the Detention room where she was dancing up a storm with Seaweed, he, deep down inside couldn't help but be allured, and as time progressed, he realized that Tracy's inner beauty made her outer beauty shine through, and that Amber had no inner beauty whatsoever, thus not having it on the outside. Who cared if Amber was one hundred and twenty pounds and Tracy was a voluptuous two hundred and five? It didn't matter at all.

Suddenly, he tried not to throw up at the site of another gorgon, one of Amber's female thugs.

Jeanette La Fontaine.

She was as ugly as Amber ever was, stabbing green eyes and dark brown hair in a beehive. Rumor had it amongst his friends that she had almost never washed the beehive, and that spiders nested in it. Much to his dismay, she sat right next to him.

They were civilized to one another, though he would never be her friend if his life depended on it.

"You'll never guess what Tracy's doing behind your back."

"Come on, Spider Queen," he laughed. "What could an angel like my Tracy do behind my back?"

Jeanette slipped him an envelope…


	3. The Wildfire Spreads

Chapter 3

Edna Turnblad was listening to "The Holly And The Ivy" on the intercom in the local grocery store, singing along as she practically floated from aisle to aisle, full of Christmas spirit. Once, she never dared go outside the house since she had gained weight and become a size twenty, usually leaving the shopping duties to her husband, Wilbur. But after her daughter had inspired her to let the new decade of people unashamed to be different from what society, the media and whatnot, and she was updated in every way, welcoming the new decade into her heart, she had changed.

She was unashamed to be herself after meeting new friends like Maybelle Stubbs, who had taught her that beauty has to begin on the inside, and no matter how big you are on the outside, all of your outer beauty will always be there… and noticed. She no longer cared about the occasional cockroach out there who didn't like the way she looked. She walked tall and held her head high in public no matter where she went.

She was in aisle four, the coffee aisle, when she noticed that people were acting chillier toward her than the Baltimore snow, some staring with a stony face, some turning their backs toward her. Although she herself had a warm attitude, she felt much colder airs and attitudes from Helga Lindstrom, Molly McCann, and Gertrude Levi, housewives who were once friendly with her shortly after the makeover Tracy gave her at Mr. Pinky's hideaway. When she said, "Hi, girls, Merry Christmas!" with her million dollar smile, and then wound up saying "What's with you?" as they cruelly stalked off in dead silence, Helga turned around and said, "We don't speak to people who associate themselves with barbarians." Barbarians?! Puzzled and bewildered, Edna shook her head and figured Helga had a stick up her behind about…well, something.

As she made her way into the produce section, Edna noticed people, and particularly their young teenage daughters, giggling to themselves when they saw her, trying to stifle their giggles. More chilly stares from the butcher, and then the cashier, and more stifled giggles. People who were once friendly with her now stalked off in dead silence, shaking their heads. Some she intended to invite to her Christmas party on the fifteenth, her very first Christmas party ever! What on earth is going on, she thought.

And then it hit her. As Tracy and her friends danced up a storm on the day the Corny Collins Show was integrated, she, too, bravely danced on stage. She supported Tracy in her quest to have darker-skinned people honored, loved and respected as what they were--human beings. She was proud, as her daughter was, that the show was integrated, yet that was only a small step in the great changes taking place, not only in Baltimore, but all over the United States. They must have been cutting her out of their lives because of this, she thought.

But she refused to get upset or display any hurt. As she strolled out the door, with the dignity of a queen despite the giggling she heard behind her back (the bagger refusing to help her to her car, saying he didn't associate with people like her), she refused to let it spoil her happiness. It was, after all, Christmas.

Suddenly, as she was putting the groceries into her car, she heard a voice all too familiar, a voice that, when phrasing words, sounded like someone passing gas, yet, in vain, trying to sound as sweet as night blooming jasmine.

"Merry Christmas, Edna."

Edna turned to see Amber's mother, Velma Von Tussle, walking by, also trying to stifle her giggles.

She noticed a sign Scotch-taped to her back.

"I am a barbarian lover", it read in permanent ink.

"Oooh! And they have the nerve to call these decent people barbarians when they're the ones who are!" Edna groaned furiously as she got into her car and drove off.


	4. Corny's Dilemma

Chapter 4

Corny Collins was preparing for his show down at Baltimore's WYZT station. The set was being prepared at a feverish pace, the usual dance floors and pillars being assembled in their pink, blue and green pastel colors, with giant pink-striped candy canes and wreaths made from pink, blue and green glass Christmas balls added just for the Christmas season; they would be there all throughout the month until the first of January of next year, but also for the "Christmas Edition" of The Corny Collins Show, on December fifteenth, where the teenage dancers of the show would literally "rock around" a big Christmas tree soon to be put in the center of the stage.

As much as he anticipated it, Corny himself wasn't at all prepared for this day. For "Motormouth" Maybelle Stubbs, formerly the hostess of the "Negro Day" of the show, defunct ever since the show's integration, was now his co-host. And as much as he wanted her there and respected her being there…well, he realized fully, that day, he felt a whole lot more for her, in fact…well, he had a crush on her.

Who could blame him? She not only had an incomparably warm, beautiful, caring personality, but her voluptuous figure, honey-colored hair and flawless skin, her warm eyes and genuine smile…well, she was altogether "big, blonde and beautiful", just as she always said she was. Sweat was rolling down his forehead as he full realized it all, right in front of his dressing room mirror. He tried to keep his signature confidence he always exuded onstage --and even he admitted he sometimes overdid that-- still existent, though every time he tried lately, deep down inside, his stomach sank and his heart beat at a mad pace, wedged in his throat.

And the questions rose in his mind. He didn't care if she was African-American. Yet, there were lots of people in society who did, and he saw on the television news the atrocities that had happened to them, as well as African-Americans. Was he ready to psychologically fend them off if he managed to make Maybelle his girlfriend? Would he manage to lose a lot of his fans if they found out he was dating her? Or his dancers? What would his family think, or hers? He knew his family wouldn't be too crazy about it, and hers might be just as cautious, though he wasn't sure.

All he knew was, he was head over heels in love with her, and he had to face the facts. He couldn't deny himself an honest feeling of love for her, especially at Christmastime. He had to face the fact that he, too, was part of the change that was happening in America today, a change which loved and welcomed all people as equal human beings, a change which would, like adolescence, be a rough and bumpy ride for all involved. America would start off taking baby steps as far as this was concerned. Yet, he couldn't wait for America to take strides and improve by leaps and bounds. Was he psychologically and spiritually ready for the mad ride through America's changes? His being in love with an African-American?

"The kids will be coming in about four hours, Corny, baby," a voluptuous voice called out from behind him. "Better keep getting yourself ready."

"Uh…yes, of course, Maybelle…w…wouldn't want to miss the beginning of this holiday season," replied Corny, his newly-made up face now fully covered with sweat.

What's a man to do, he thought.


End file.
